But there was no real need for him to correct Asuma Sarutobi. It amounted to the same thing anyway.
"Oh no, I said the wrong thing."
Asuma Sarutobi quickly said his goodbyes to Shimizu and hurriedly ran out, desperate to see if there was any way to salvage the situation.
Once everyone had vacated the room, Shimizu slammed his palm onto the ground. In an instant, every trace of moisture was evaporated.
"It seems that when people get nervous..."
Whenever Shi Inuzuka spoke, Shimizu, having experienced it firsthand, understood these quirks perfectly.
A moment later, he pulled out the experimental data for the Cursed Seal to check for any flaws or omissions. His research on the Cursed Seal could not be abandoned just yet; the road had not yet reached its end. There was still plenty of room for development.
As of right now, he was still missing the Cursed Seal of the Snake and the Cursed Seal of Humanity that had previously appeared in the simulator. Once the Cursed Seal of Humanity was fully developed, he could let White Dove try to evolve into a half-human, half-bird entity—or rather, an existence akin to a harpy.
Time gradually slipped away amidst the ongoing war.
Kushina Uzumaki had also begun to grow accustomed to life at the outpost. From time to time, she would look for Shimizu to help her with a massage.
The morning sunlight spilled across Kushina's face. Her cheeks flushed with a faint rosy tint as she slowly woke from her slumber. Today was a mission day, so she absolutely could not afford to oversleep.
"Why is it like this again?"
She felt her...
Outlined perfectly by her pajamas, her figure appeared even more voluptuous and mature. She had clearly long passed the age of development, so why was this still happening?
"Let's clean up first."
Kushina stood up, intending to gather the bedsheets inside the tent. Feeling a strange friction as she walked, Kushina couldn't help but harbor a bewildered question. Had she been getting a little weird lately?
She lightly patted her own cheeks, telling herself to stop overthinking. After waiting a moment for her body's physical reactions to subside, Kushina changed into a looser shinobi outfit.
Cradling her changed clothes and bedsheets, she prepared to head outside to wash up. Thanks to the modifications made by the Suiton ninja over the past few days, a clean stream had been redirected nearby. The water was pristine, diverted all the way from a distant lake, and was perfectly adequate for daily tasks like washing clothes, cooking, or washing up.
A few simple structures had even been erected nearby to serve as bathhouses. In the midst of war, hygiene was a crucial factor. This ensured that every time Kushina finished a massage session, she had a proper place to rinse off, rather than having to use Fire Release to bake herself clean every single time.
"You're here early today, Kurenai," Kushina greeted a woman with curled black hair and distinct crimson eyes.
It was Kurenai Yuhi, the daughter of the Yuhi clan. After spending the past few days together, she felt that Kurenai was a wonderful woman.
"Good morning, Kushina." Kurenai Yuhi nodded slightly, then departed while holding her freshly washed laundry.
Kushina watched her leave with a peculiar expression. A few days ago, she had noticed Kurenai walking with a bizarre, awkward posture, almost as if she had been severely beaten. Her gait had returned to normal over the past two days, but her expression remained cold and distant, as if a heavy burden was weighing on her heart.
Kushina shook her head, dismissing the thought. She soaked the bedsheets in the stream, sprinkled some detergent, and thoroughly rinsed them clean with the flowing water. After finishing her laundry, she went in for a quick shower.
From start to finish, the entire process took less than half an hour. Kushina quickly gathered her things and went, as usual, to check if Minato Namikaze was present at the command post.
On her way, her post-shower figure drew the gaze of quite a few people.
"Is it just me, or is Kushina's figure changing every single day?" a wounded shinobi muttered under his breath, stealing side-glances at Kushina Uzumaki.
In the midst of a war, there were plenty of female shinobi. However, mature and beautiful kunoichi like Kushina Uzumaki were an extreme rarity. In such an oppressive and suffocating environment, people naturally tended to seek out base distractions.
However, no one dared to look too openly or say anything aloud. Given how fiercely guarded any information regarding Kushina was, it was obvious to everyone that she was tied to the village's highest-level secrets. No fool was willing to risk their life doing anything reckless.
Not to mention, Kushina's boyfriend was the Yellow Flash himself!
"Kushina, you're here," Minato Namikaze greeted her, waving his hand, though his expression carried a heavy solemnity.
"Minato, did something happen?" Kushina asked, sensing the tension.
"...Today, you will be deploying to the battlefield alongside us," Minato Namikaze explained the reasoning to her.
News that Kumogakure had hired a rising organization to act as their mercenaries had successfully filtered from the front lines to the rear. The remaining active forces of Kumogakure were running thin, so it made perfect sense for them to spend funds to hire external muscle at this juncture.
Upon receiving the report, Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately approved the order from the rear for Kushina to deploy. Ultimately, the Tailed Beasts were meant to be utilized in warfare. There were far too many promising young talents among the current deployment; if they all perished in this conflict, Konohagakure would suffer a devastating generational gap, leaving the next generation completely depleted.
With their enemies growing stronger and Konoha declining, they would find themselves entirely at a disadvantage in the next Shinobi World War. After all, no one could guarantee that peace would last forever.
While the two were conversing, a pale-faced man stared intently at them from the shadows.
"Heh heh... The Nine-Tails."
Orochimaru had traveled all the way from his laboratory near the Land of Rain to this battlefield on the border of the Land of Fire. He gazed at Kushina with an unreadable, expressionless face.
The fact that Kushina was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was a secret among secrets within the village. Even someone of his status knew very little about her specific condition. Of course, the primary reason was simply that he harbored no real interest in the existence of Tailed Beasts.
Shortly after, Orochimaru shifted his gaze toward Shimizu.
Shimizu Uchiha was currently standing not too far from Kushina. Orochimaru slowly licked the corner of his mouth. Having perfected the Fushi Tensei jutsu, his burning desire to possess Shimizu grew stronger with each passing day.
He could not wait to experience what it felt like to inhabit a truly superior life form. An extraordinary existence like Shimizu was practically destined to serve as his very first vessel!
He would claim Shimizu's body, use it to master every single jutsu in existence, and become the ultimate entity!
The first person to mix blue and yellow together named the resulting color green. If blue represents chakra, and yellow represents hand seals, then green represents ninjutsu—just like the infinite, boundless varieties of colors in the world.
Only an individual with such a powerful foundation could hope to comprehend the vast infinity of jutsu before a normal physical body reached the limit of its lifespan.
"It is time to set out."
Orochimaru had been deployed here by Danzo, granting him a position of high command—technically even higher than Minato Namikaze's. After all, he was one of the Legendary Sannin who had been famous for decades; though Minato Namikaze possessed immense renown, he was still far too young.
The surrounding shinobi nodded, swiftly exiting the outpost and shuttling rapidly through the dense forest canopy. After several hours of forced marching, they finally arrived at the designated battlefield.
"Akurabatto!"
Just as the platoon set foot onto the battlefield, a crimson figure descended violently from the heavens. Brandishing seven slender swords in a synchronized dance of death, the figure charged into the vanguard at blinding speed. In an instant, several Konoha shinobi were cut down.
"Everyone, stay sharp! Kumogakure's Eight-Tails Jinchuriki is here!" Minato Namikaze's gaze locked onto the threat. He swiftly drew a specialized kunai, preparing to unleash his Hiraishin no Jutsu.
If one absolutely had to find a flaw in the Hiraishin no Jutsu, it was that its overall execution speed was bound to the user's physical throwing strength. The faster the kunai was hurled, the faster the user could materialize at the corresponding coordinate.
However, arriving at the impact point even faster than Minato's kunai was Shimizu.
A dazzling Tenrō Fire Sword, resembling a crimson blade forged from overlapping fish scales, clashed violently against Killer B's chaotic flurry of slender swords, sending a brilliant cascade of sparks flying into the air.
"Yo~ Shunshin Shimizu!"
The Tailed Beast Chakra Cloak enveloping Killer B grew noticeably denser as he launched an even faster, more vicious assault aimed directly at Shimizu's blind spots.
The three-tomoe Sharingan within Shimizu's eyes darted rapidly, perfectly tracking and capturing every micro-movement.
Dust billowed furiously across the clearing where the two clashed. The surrounding shinobi quickly backed away, clearing a wide, empty perimeter to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
"Is that the legendary Tailed Beast? That terrifying chakra has practically materialized into a physical entity," several Konoha shinobi whispered in sheer awe as they watched Killer B.
Forcing chakra to materialize into a physical substance was an incredibly difficult feat; it required an unimaginably vast reservoir of raw energy to sustain such a state. However, what shocked them even more was the fact that Shimizu could actually keep up with Killer B's insane velocity.
The weapons in their hands clashed at a speed that blurred past human perception. The onlookers could only faintly discern Killer B's erratic, dance-like postures and the elegant silhouette clad in Uchiha robes matching him blow for blow.
"Shimizu... is actually this strong."
This was the very first time Kushina had witnessed Shimizu's true mastery of taijutsu. To think that on top of his exquisite Katon mastery, he possessed such formidable close-quarters combat skills. She had never heard anyone praise Shimizu for his taijutsu before; the rumors always focused solely on his Shunshin no Jutsu.
Seeing it with their own eyes today, the rest of the shinobi and Kushina realized with a jolt of astonishment that the power Shimizu usually put on display might just be the tip of a massive iceberg.
"Of course, he is my subordinate after all," Minato Namikaze stated, his voice laced with pride. Having such an exceptional student naturally brought immense joy to him as a mentor.
"The Uchiha are as detestable as ever."
As the Konoha forces fanned out to encircle Killer B and Shimizu, the treetops shook violently, and a fresh platoon of Kumogakure shinobi materialized from the brush.
Yugito Nii stood high upon a massive branch, her arms crossed as she looked down at the duel. Her brownish-yellow braid fluttered gently against her waist in the wind.
"It seems we have walked right into an ambush laid by Kumogakure," Orochimaru noted, his golden, slitted pupils narrowing as he surveyed the terrain.
The orders they had received were to reinforce the front lines. Yet, the friendly forces awaiting reinforcement were nowhere to be found. This proved that the intelligence report was a fabrication—or perhaps the vanguard had been intentionally lured elsewhere, considering there weren't any corpses littering the ground.
"B, Shimizu Uchiha's strength has grown significantly. Do not underestimate him," the Eight-Tails, Gyuki, warned from deep within Killer B's consciousness.
"I know~ This lord will teach him a lesson, and avenge Samui and our fallen comrades from last time!"
Several chakra tails erupted from behind Killer B's waist as his offensive style reached the absolute pinnacle of ferocity. The space surrounding them became entirely saturated with the afterimages of his slender swords. From a distance, it looked as though Killer B had transformed into a spinning, metallic hurricane.
Akurabatto!
"To think an A-rank jutsu could be executed to a degree comparable to an S-rank."
Shimizu's vision could barely lock onto Killer B's fluctuating silhouette. The rank of a jutsu merely indicated the difficulty of mastering it, not its ultimate destructive output. The true power always depended on the individual execution of the shinobi.
In the original timeline, during the battle of Mangekyo Sasuke vs. Killer B, Sasuke's ocular power had failed to keep pace with Killer B's Akurabatto. The fact that Shimizu could actively match Killer B's speed using only a three-tomoe Sharingan spoke volumes about the profound depth of his ocular prowess.
"This is the perfect opportunity to test the Cursed Seal's performance in a live combat scenario," Shimizu muttered internally.
Concentric rings of pitch-black runes began to violently ripple outward from the dead center of Shimizu's chest. His blood boiled fiercely, and his long hair billowed wildly into the wind.
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